A Cougar's Claim (Charmed in Vegas Book 7)

by Jennifer James

  “Right.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

  A fire fighter shouted through the gap. “We’ve got a pool here to catch the water and the shark. Back into the corner so you don’t get caught by his tail when we open the doors the rest of the way.”

  Kit picked her up off the floor, both hands on her ass and a wicked curl to his lips. He twirled around and pinned her to the wall with his taller frame. She couldn’t help it, she leaned in and let her head rest against his chest for a second.

  “We’re ready.” Rhiannon held as still as possible. The doors slid free and the water rushed out, along with the shark. If sharks had facial expressions, Rhiannon would say his was relieved.

  “Just hold on for a minute while we get the area clear and then we will help you get out of the elevator.”

  Scuffling and the slosh of water filtered in from the hall.

  Kit held her tight to his hips and she had to resist the insane urge to grind against his erection.

  She whispered, “This is quite possibly the most inappropriate time ever for a hard on.”

  “I can’t help it.” He swiveled his hips. “Any better?”

  “You know it’s not.” Evil. Kit had grown up and turned evil. “Well, you better be cool with everyone out there seeing your cock, because your jeans are soaked and you’ll be showing off...” She tried to hold still, but gave up and wriggled against the erotic promise of his hard length. “Everything.”

  “I don’t care.” Finger combing some of her hair back, he traced her cheekbone with his thumb. “I’m not going away. I’m going to hunt you down, drag you back to my lair, and make love to you until you believe you’re my mate. Even if I have to tie you to the bed.”

  That spot in her chest that kept igniting like fireworks popped off so hard she thought she might have a heart attack. Lust burned through her bloodstream like boiling caramel.

  Why was he doing this to her? She did not have time for delusional exes on top of all the other shit hitting her inbox. This couldn’t happen.

  Even if she was in the mood for some kinky fun, sex with Kit could never, ever be without emotional strings. Not for her. She had to get the hell out of this elevator.

  “Hey, can I come out now? I’m freezing cold and this guy in here is a pervert.”

  Chapter Five

  His cougar yowled inside, pacing and growling, basically ready to tear right through his skin and gnaw off the hands of anyone who put a finger on Rhiannon.

  His mate. Who wanted nothing to do with him. He craved her, needed her in a way that transcended the physical.

  Shit. Less than an hour with his mate and he sounded like a besotted idiot, even in his own head. She was his. Special. The urge to mate her the night they were together was nothing compared to what he battled now.

  How to convince her they were soul mates? She was right about true mates and the way they behaved around each other. He shouldn’t have been able to walk away from her. The only explanation he had was their youth when they met. Teenagers, barely legal to vote. He’d done his best to protect her at the time, let the rift between them grow for years. Now he had to fucking fix it.

  But how?

  A firefighter appeared in the opening between the doors, grinning at Rhiannon like a love struck kitten.

  Oh, fuck no. Little Timmy Fireman needed to keep his damn hands, smile, hell, his whole body away from his mate.

  “Ma’am, if you’re ready I’ll help you out. It’s not a far drop.” He offered her his hand, way too close to the description of the kind of guy Rhiannon said she should be after.

  Instead of a guy like him.

  She was right. He wasn’t even sure how they’d work as a couple. All he’d ever wanted for her was to be happy, to pursue her dreams, and she’d done that. Now here he was swooping in and telling her he was going to abduct her and have sex with her until she gave him what he wanted. He was a dick.

  But the magic that bound mates together, true soul mates, didn’t get it wrong. It didn’t make mistakes. Plus, she had reacted to his plans to hunt her down in the best fucking way. Pupils dilated, nipples hard, leaning in closer to him—and she didn’t even realize it.

  He could do this. He’d convince her.

  But first, this firefighter wasn’t going to touch his mate. Kit skirted around her, one hand on her hip she’d think a casual touch, but another man would recognize the gesture for what it was—proprietary as hell.

  She was his. She just had to learn to trust him again. He wouldn’t tie her up in his cabin unless he absolutely had to. Or if she asked.

  Damn, he hoped she did.

  Kit shimmied through the opening between the bottom of the elevator and the ceiling of the next floor down, landing close enough to the rescue worker to force the guy back a step.

  The fireman smelled like bacon, toothpaste, and fabric softener. Well built, mid-thirties, blue eyes and brown hair. No wedding ring or visible tattoos. Enough of a tan to suggest he got outside when he wasn’t on shift at the fire house. Laugh lines around his mouth and a decent face. Human.

  The cougar wanted to gut him. This man threatened his ability to win over their mate.

  “Could you move already so I can get the hell out of here?” A sharp nudge to his shoulder blade courtesy of one very wet pink canvas sneaker prompted him to turn around. Rhiannon glared at him from the elevator floor, her hair a straggly mess, shirt plastered to her full, abundant breasts, and make up smudged. “Take this.”

  The taser unit went from his hand directly to the fireman’s. Kit reached over his shoulder and ripped the probes out of his skin.

  “Did she tase you?” The fireman considered the weapon and some of his interest in Kit’s mate faded.

  “Yeah. I pissed her off.” Better to warn the guy off than have to hurt him later for getting too goo-goo eyed over his mate. Clasping her ankle to ward off further kicks, he smirked at her. “I forgive her for it though.”

  “You were punching that shark for no reason.” Mumbling under her breath too low for the humans to hear, she added, “and you kissed me and made me want more kisses even though I know all that’ll get me is even more screwed up that I already am.”

  “My back’s bleeding. Might need stitches.” Not a complete lie. The holes were trickling blood but in another minute or two they’d close completely.

  “So go get fixed up and let this guy help me.”

  No way. He towed her closer to the edge and caught her other foot. An almost imperceptible shiver ran over her. And then she shot him a look so filled with fury, if she’d had the power to accomplish it, he’d be on fire.

  Oh, bring it on. “Come here.”

  Rhiannon’s lips were so tight they barely moved as she bit out a response. “I think I’d rather the professionals handle it, thanks.”

  “I’m stronger than three of them combined. Come on. Trust me.” He winked and turned the fireman. “She’s always been stubborn like this. Since day one.”

  “Oh yeah?” Disappointment flashed in the fireman’s eyes, but he shrugged it off with a smile. “Stubborn can be nice. I like a woman who doesn’t give up easily. A fighter.”

  “Stop talking about me like I’m not right here.” She scooted forward and gave him the opportunity he needed.

  Kit grabbed her under the legs and lower back. His superior supernatural strength made it easy to hold her despite the awkward position. Electric awareness flooded his system.

  Rhiannon in his arms, cradled close to his heart. Her huge green eyes focused and staring up at him. All the confusion and pain he’d caused laid bare to him.

  God, he deserved whatever she wanted from him. Except walking away. He couldn’t do that. Not again.

  “Please put me down.”

  For another three heartbeats he held her and then reluctantly let her slide to the floor, even as his cat screamed at him to run away with her. To bind them together and make her understand.

  But the cougar wasn’t human and ha
d no concept of human repercussions, limitations or feelings and the complicated, screwed up situation he’d gotten into.

  “Ma’am, if you’ll come with me, we’ll get you checked out and make sure you’re okay to head home.” The fire fighter took her elbow and led her away. “What’s your name? You look familiar.”

  The attentive and careful way he handled Rhiannon was almost enough to drive Kit to stomp on the guy until every bone in his body was crushed.

  A low warning rumble started in his chest, hissing past his lips. If he’d been in cougar form, his ears would be laid low to his head, his tail twitching and his canines exposed to advertise how damn deadly he was. His supremacy over the frail humans touching his mate obvious.

  Firefighter boy glanced at him and paled. At least the guy wasn’t a total idiot. Kit resisted the urge to snarl. Just barely.

  He coughed and shoved his hands into the sodden pockets of his jeans to hide his claws. He had to get his shit together or someone would end up dead. “Excuse me, Mr. Barrientos,” a short, pudgy man with a comb over and an ill-fitting suit trotted to him on stick thin legs. A name tag identified him as the hotel manager, Bernard Fisk.

  Fantastic. “Yes.”

  “The sensors installed on the twentieth floor indicate that the fire originated in the hotel room rented by Jase Barrientos. The room I gave you access to this morning when you cited the need to check on your clan mate. I’ve checked the premises and it’s obvious that the bed’s comforter was the source of the fire. Now, if we had reason to believe that perhaps the hotel was at fault—”

  “I didn’t set the fire. That was a dragon.”

  The hotel manager blinked large, owlish eyes at him. “The person who rented the room holds responsibility for any damages. You told me you’re the alpha’s second.”

  Fuck. Of course he’d get stuck with this shit. Fisk was pulling shifter politics on him. The higher ranking members of a shifter group were responsible for the trouble caused by their subordinates.

  “How much is this going to cost?” Kit scratched at his stubble, the drying salt water making him impossibly itchy.

  “Well, there’s some smoke damage to the room and hallway, and the linens on the bed are completely destroyed. Luckily the mattress didn’t catch fire as well, but I’m afraid there will be a lingering scent.” Fisk tapped his fingers together, his over grown eyebrows connected in the middle by a thick line of prickly fuzz. “And as for the elevator—”

  “I’m not paying for the fucking elevator buddy. Don’t you have insurance?”

  “We do, but the number of claims we’ve had to file since opening the specialty floors for supernaturals has caused our premiums to sky rocket,” the manager sneered. “Perhaps you should have taken your fire breathing companion somewhere more within your budget.”

  What a prick. His logging company wasn’t a huge cash cow, but he wasn’t hurting for money either. The clan had an emergency fund, but it wasn’t bottomless. The last thing he wanted to do was tap into money set aside for disasters back home. “I’m willing to shell out for the bed and some paint, but the water in here was all due to the shark. That had nothing to do with me. The second the smoke alarms went off in any part of the building the elevator was going to shut down. This guy being a baby about that isn’t my fault.” Kit pointed at the large blow up wading pool five feet away. Splashing and garbled complaints rose into the air. “Hey, shut up you stinkin’ fish. I’ll shift and eat you from the tail on up. Get control of your emotions and you won’t have these problems.”

  Fisk retreated two mincing steps, his eyebrow almost crawling around his forehead like a caterpillar. “Please do not threaten the other hotel guests sir. This isn’t some backwoods lumber jack camp. This is The Thornhill Regency. We—”

  Kit wrangled his wallet from his back pocket and withdrew a credit card. “Here. Put the charges for the room on this and leave me alone. If I see anything about the fucking elevator on there...well, cats are silent hunters.”

  Rhiannon observed the entire exchange with open curiosity. He met her gaze, and she tipped her head toward the fire fighter that’d tried to help her out of the elevator, a huge, flirtatious grin plastered on her face. She fucking sparkled when she smiled like that.

  They were touching too much. He didn’t need to brush her hair away from her eyes or hold her hand because the EMT was taking her blood pressure.

  Cold, clammy fingers clamped around his bicep. Kit struggled to maintain a façade of calm, I-don’t-give-a-fuck. This was a hunt. She was his mate. Now wasn’t the time to make a move. He could be smart and patient.

  “Hey asshole, I’m not paying for the damage to the elevator. You and your dragon friend are the ones that started this whole thing by setting off the fire alarms and got me trapped in that tiny metal box with that woman.”

  Kit took four breaths, letting the briny, stinky fish scent of the man next to him sink in to his senses. The cougar swatted at him, annoyed. His cat wanted to pursue Rhiannon, not deal with another distraction. If it was up to the animal within, they’d gut this idiot, break the fire fighter’s jaw for smiling at Rhiannon, and drag her off by the nape of the neck into a stairwell and mate her.

  He clasped the other shifter’s wrist and peeled pruny-skinned fingers off his arm. “If you have a problem with small spaces, take the goddamned stairs, chubby. I’m not paying for you pissing water all over the damn place because you had a hissy fit.”

  Eyes the same color blue as when he’d changed shape grew round in the man’s face. He clutched at the lapels of a white bathrobe emblazoned with the hotel’s logo on the left breast closed over his pale greyish white chest. “I’m in the penthouse. You can’t expect me to walk down all those stairs. Do you know how long that takes?”

  Kit squeezed, and felt the tiny bones under his fingers grind into each other. “If you don’t walk away, right now, I will do permanent damage to you. Do you understand me?”

  “There’s no reason to be so, so, so dramatic about it. I don’t even have regular bones you know.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Sharks have cartilage. We’re flexible. You can squeeze all you want, but with my ability to heal and my superior skeletal structure, my wrist will be good as new in half an hour tops.”

  Rhiannon’s scent, undermined with the sour tinge of sweat and salt, captured his attention. She stopped on his left, with her new admirer in tow.

  The woman must want him to kill every man in the building.

  He forced his thoughts clear. The cougar inside was too riled, getting too possessive and crazed and she was making it worse on purpose. Maybe he kinda deserved that. His hand clenched, an involuntary reaction to the fire fighter’s proximity to his mate.

  The human stood close enough to her for his chest to brush her arm if he took a deep breath.

  “Okay okay okay please stop that really hurts. I was lying about the cartilage thing, that’s only when I’m shifted.” The shark shifter went to his knees on the floor, face crimson and the robe gaping.

  “Kit, what are you doing? Let the guy go.” Rhiannon knelt beside the shifter.

  Chagrined, he released the shark shifter’s wrist and took a step back. This was bad. He couldn’t get so close to losing control.

  The fire fighter gave him a wide berth, joining Rhiannon on the floor.

  So now what did he do? Just stand here like shit left in a litterbox?

  Shark boy cradled his injured hand to his chest. He look soft, unfinished, like a guy who worked a desk job and should be wearing glasses. With his long, thin nose, wide mouth, and overly large eyes, the guy was creepy but harmless. “I don’t even know why you’re touching me. You accused me of trying to eat you when we were in the elevator and I never even got near you.”

  Rhiannon recoiled from the hurt shifter and stood, her cheeks bright red. “You’re a damn shark. You lost control of yourself in an enclosed space. Yes, I thought you might eat me. I would have thought any shifter was going to take a bite o
r a swipe or eviscerate me right after losing it because they were afraid for their life. At least I didn’t tase you, you rotten fishy creep.”

  The shark shifter got to his feet, gesturing with both arms and his robe flapping. “I am so sick of you humans and your prejudices against sharks. News flash, y’all are not very tasty. If I’m really hungry I’ll go and get some nibbles from the local fish market. I don’t have to go biting everything just because I’m a shark.”

  “Sir, calm down. I can’t asses your injury if you’re gesturing at Ms. Delamatre.” The fire fighter placed himself to the left and slightly in front of Rhiannon.

  In his place. He should be protecting her, not the human. Two fluid steps, and he’d insinuated himself between his mate and the human.

  That was better.

  Rhiannon tossed her hair back. Her eyes flashed and chest heaved, her face flushed. “I could have drowned in there! I’m trying to be nice to you, you scaly, slimy, asshole.”

  “I tried to get you out of the water, and you refused to leave the elevator. Stop being so hard on him about the water.” Kit cocked an eyebrow at her. Rhiannon sputtered, huffed, and crossed her arms over her chest. He bit back the urge to laugh. Laughing would only make her angrier. “No way in hell you’d have drowned. Not with me there.”

  The shark shifter waved his arms, all worry about the robe staying closed over his pasty, nude body forgotten. “I’m part human you know. I’m not a damn cannibal, for all the good it does me—”

  Rhiannon poked the shark shifter in the chest. “I knew I should have tased you. I even yelled at Kit for punching you and now I can’t figure out why I fucking bothered. You’re a whiny bitch.”

  “Me? Pot, meet kettle, honey. A little bit of water and you’re screeching like a banshee with a flaming cattle prod up your ass.”

  The fire fighter sat on his heels and rubbed a hand down his face. He caught Kit’s attention with an exasperated expression that was universal guy code for “let’s bail on this shit.”